Major Gaming Media’s Distaste for Nintendo & the Wii U

By Furious Francis, editor-in-chief

Nintendo has always had a massive fan base, who loves their games like Mario, Metroid, and Zelda. Leagues of fans lined up to get the Wii and Wii U on their respective launch days, but one thing is clear. There is a wildly different perception of Nintendo, from the consumers who purchase their products and the media who cover them . If you went off the media’s perception of Nintendo and the Wii U, one would think they are the worst company ever. Many major media sites have been insanely critical of the Wii U because it doesn’t fit their perceptions of how a console should be. Before you read the rest of the article. Take a look at the latest episode of the Annoyed Gamer on Gametrailers.com. This type of attitude toward Nintendo is widespread in the gaming industry. Please comment and let us know what you think.

He seems to blame Nintendo for the bad port of Batman Arkham City. Telling them to “sort their shit out”. How is it Nintendo’s fault Warner Bros did a bad port of the game? Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Mass Effect 3, Assassin’s Creed 3, DarkSiders 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor’s Edge run fine on the system. Never mind the fact he picks the worst port on purpose to try to prove his point. Nintendo doesn’t need to “get it together” because the Batman Arkham City port has frame rate issues.

It reminds me of when the PS3 first came out. You can’t blame the system. Blame the Publishers or developers who made the game. Madden 2008 was damn near unplayable in local multiplayer on the PS3, I didn’t blame Sony. I blamed EA for a bad port, and the following year they delivered Madden 2009 on the PS3 that didn’t have those frame rate issues.

Why the is everybody so Pissed off About the Canadian Exclusive Wii Mini?

Now on the Wii Mini, I’m flabbergasted on how he equates the Wii Mini to Nintendo not giving “A flying fart about anybody who’s put them in this position”? It won’t even be available for purchase where he lives (Los Angeles) it’s a Canadian exclusive, and consumers can purchase a used Wii from GameStop for cheaper than the $99 price tag of the Wii Mini. Nintendo is not forcing us to buy the Wii Mini or cutting off production of the regular Wii. It’s not for us….. move on. We know Nintendo is hard at work on the franchises we all know and love. Pokemon, Bayonetta, Metroid, Zelda, Mario, Smash Bros. Their all in development. Give the Wii U some time on the market. Nintendo has not forgotten about the core gamer with the Wii U. Why would they fund Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101 otherwise. Both games will not sell as well as Mario, but Nintendo wanted to make sure the core gamers get those games.

Nintendo has been done with the Wii

Then he goes on to talk about Nintendo needing to put the Wii to rest….. yeah they already did! How many Wii games were released from Nintendo in the past year? We got Xenoblade and the Last Story (published by XSEED), Pandora’s Tower in some regions, and that’s it. Nintendo put the Wii to rest a long time ago. The Wii Mini is not a resurgence of Nintendo trying to reinvigorate Wii sales. Hell, you can only purchase one in Canada. Seriously, the needless bashing of sh*t that doesn’t matter DOES NOT help the gaming industry. It might help Gametrailers.com and this guy get more hits/notoriety, but not much more than that. I say this because Gametrailers employees always go on about what is good and bad for the industry. Taking the time to drum up hate for Nintendo based on Arkham City getting a bad port and a Wii Mini being released in one minor region does not help the gaming industry. Now his rant on sexism in gaming does.

Nintendo, why don’t you support the 3DS?

I think he must have missed the recent Nintendo Direct. Nintendo announced launch dates for Castlevania Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate, Fire Emblem Awakening, Luigi Mansion Dark Moon, Animal Crossing a New Leaf, and exclusive eShop titles like Crimson Shroud. It’s true Nintendo’s holiday lineup for the 3DS was a bit weak, but 3rd party games like Kingdom Hearts 3D and eShop titles got more sales because of it. No need to rush games like Fire Emblem or Animal Crossing to the market and leave yourself dry next year. Consumers have enough to purchase with the Wii U and its games. Most consumers don’t have the money to buy a Wii U, games, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, and Castlevania all in the 2012 holiday season. Coming from someone who DOESN’T pay for games, it’s easy for him to say Nintendo should have released more games for the 3DS fall. This is a problem for the industry too. They don’t pay for Nintendo’s games so they go on about how they should release all these games without thinking about the consumer who has to buy them.

Michael Pachter the bane of all Nintendo fans

Take a look at Michael Pachter for instance. He has been one of the biggest ‘bashers’ of the Wii U and Nintendo for years. Half of the ‘information’ he gives is just predictions based on stocks or trading BS that doesn’t affect or help inform gamers on what is good or not. His latest comments on Call of Duty Black Ops 2 on the Wii U proves that. He claims it’s great, but says ‘it’s no fun to play it when there is only four people playing’. He also says “Nobody in their right mind would buy a Wii U and say ‘I’m going to play Call of Duty.’ That’s like saying ‘I gave up Facebook, and it’s Google+ now”.”Never mind the insane exaggeration and sarcasm from this ‘professional’ analyst. So if somebody buys Call of Duty Black Ops 2 on the Wii U…. they are crazy? Thousands of gamers bought Call of Duty Black Ops 2 on the Wii U. And many more will. These kinds of statements make him look more like a troll than a professional industry analyst.

Multi-million Dollar Franchises will become Irrelevant on Wii U

Pachter says Nintendo has their “niche” but will become “irrelevant” in the future. Let me get this straight: Super Smash Bros U, Bayonetta 2, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid, and Zelda, will be released from a irrelevant company with irrelevant hardware? Honestly, does he even believe his own words? All this because of Stock trade money? How about software and hardware sales? Nintendo’s first party IP on average ‘destroy’ Microsoft and Sony’s. Mario Kart Wii and New Super Mario Bros Wii outsold Killzone, Uncharted, Infamous, LittleBigPlanet, and Resistance…. combined. Hardly the results of irrelevant company. What happens when they release Pokémon on the 3DS with a Wii U tie in? How about Mario Kart on the Wii U? Does he really think the sales and relevancy of Nintendo will disappear? I don’t have to be financial analyst or have a MBA to say he’s wrong. Practical sense and looking at Nintendo’s history will tell my point for me in due time.

The PS Vita sold less than the original DS over Black Friday in the US, yet I didn’t hear one bit of hate thrown toward Sony on this subject. Instead what do we get? “Wii U software sales were Abysmal” and cell phones will take over the mobile market. He didn’t reveal any numbers or account for the consumers who purchased Wii U games on the eShop. And yes, there are thousands of consumers who purchased Wii U software on the eShop because of Nintendo’s Digital Deluxe Program. He has been riding Microsoft and Sony for some time now and he doesn’t want to turn back. What financial analyst wants to be wrong? That won’t go over well with the stock holders. He snowballs topics in order to gain more views and attention to himself. When he is ultimately proven wrong, because you know he will be, make sure to let him hear it.

The Media has this attitude that every company should be the same. Nintendo has to go in a different direction than Sony and Microsoft. To provide something different for consumers is not a bad thing. Especially with the Steambox coming out next year from Valve. Nintendo did a good job in creating a system that is unique, that consumers will see value in once Nintendo gets there best games on the system. I’m not claiming Nintendo is perfect or they haven’t had some problems with the Wii U, I just think a lot of the hate is unjust and excessive at times.

What do you guys think? Has the media been a bit hasty to judge the Wii U? Is the industry repeating the same mistakes they made with the PS3? Or do I not know what the hell I’m talking about? (probably that one). Put them in the comments below.

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I realized this back in the Gamecube era: The gaming media as a whole are a complete joke and focus more on sensuality rather than giving us the actual facts in their articles, which is just to increase readership and/or push an agenda. This isn't how it's supposed to be. Real journalists are only supposed to be providing us with the pertinent facts so that we can then form our own opinions on the subject at hand, not provide us these biased, slanted opinions masquerading as facts that only end up tainting this important process of relaying factual information to the masses, in order to keep them well informed of what's going on in the world around them.

I got to say, out of all the gaming sites I've visited, this is by far the best one for getting the most up-to-date news on everything Nintendo with the least amount of bias, which is just what real journalism is supposed to be like. That's why it's the first gaming site I visit everyday. The traffic may not be high, but the people who do visit generally tend to be very open-mined and respectful of the opinions of others, which gives the entire site a positive image, and makes it a pleasure to return to as a sort of safe haven from all the negativity currently plaguing the gaming world. For that, I applaud you, Furious Francis, for upholding true journalistic standards and quality. I consider you to be one of only a select few who've truly earned the privilege to wear the honorable title of journalist.

Al Degraffenreid

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BC20FLY

Micheal Patcher has always been a joke tbh.

Furious Francis

Yeah he is a joke, But I want to set up a open debate against Pachter and the annoyed gamer. I think there trolls disguised as industry workers.

Rawbiz-001

Great read and nice analyst. I never would have given angry gamer the traffic by watching video or even bother with Pachter.

Furious Francis

Yeah I thought about that but I need to prove my point. I want to openly challenge the Annoyed Gamer on this topic. Lets see if he agrees